The Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James

“A particular type of very British ghost stories, featuring Oxford scholars, antiquarian books, old manors, and supernatural monsters. While this may not sound creepy, it very much is. Anthony Lane said James "knew the sensation of evil rubbing itself against us, like a cat" and Adam Scovell writes: "A Jamesian world is one of cursed artefacts, endlessly subsuming landscapes, forgotten manuscripts and tactile beings that punish the curious and intellectually arrogant. In spite of being fantastical curios, his stories are not simply diversions. His strongest moments of horror—a fully formed mouth felt by an unsuspecting hand under a pillow, a Saxon crown’s guardian spirit smashing a man’s jaw to pieces on a desolate East Anglian beach, an empty bed suddenly revealing a form sitting up and aware—never leave those who experience them, such is their authenticity of recollection. As Ronald Blythe has pointed out, 'none of his ghosts are benign; they are horrible and extremely shocking.'"”